The Meb Keflezighi View From Coach Bob Larsen

As Meb Keflezighi's coach the last 13 years, Bob Larsen has probably been the most influential person on Meb's life outside his immediate family. Larsen, the longtime cross-country and track coach at UCLA, recruited Meb to attend his college, coached him there for 4 years, and has continued coaching him as one of the leaders of the Mammoth Lakes CA based Running USA team. Here Larsen offers some reflections on Meb and the highlights they have shared over the years.

ON SEEING MEB RUN FOR THE FIRST TIME, AND MEETING THE FAMILY"The first race I saw Meb run was a mile his junior year in high school. He didn't win, but he made a nice little move that put himself in position to win. I thought he looked quite smooth and efficient. A couple of weeks later I saw him run the 1600 and 3200 double at states. He didn't win either of those either. But he put himself in that good position again. He gave himself a chance. He showed a lot of courage. I liked that.

"The next fall I made a house visit. I remember that I practiced really hard at saying the name correctly: "Ma BRAH Tom KEF Lez Gi." I thought I would impress his parents if I could do that. I never intended to give Meb a full scholarship. We just didn't do that for distance runners. But after I met the family and realized how deserving they were, I thought he was worth the full ride--both for his talents and all the family was doing for all the kids. The dad explained that he wouldn't let them get jobs, even though everyone could have used the money, because he wanted them to concentrate on their education. So I told Meb he could have a full scholarship if he signed early. And I threatened that if he didn't, I could always go get me a couple of triple jumpers or throwers. I was just being honest with him. He signed. I'm sure glad he did. I can pat myself on the back now for making him that offer."

ON MEB IN COLLEGE"He would be up studying most of the night before even our biggest meets. That tells you a lot about him. He'd tell me that he was worried that he wasn't doing very well in a class, which might mean he'd get a 'B' in it. If other kids told me the same thing, they were usually getting a 'D.' He was attentive and driven at everything. Whatever he needed to get done in the classroom and on the track, he do it all. He just had the discipline and toughness you need.

"We moved him up gradually in mileage, from maybe 60 a week freshman year, to 70 and 80 and so one. I don't think he ever hit a 100 mile week in college, which a lot of other guys were doing. I'd coached enough guys through college and beyond to realize you don't want be in a big hurry to get everything out of them while they're still in college. He didn't like the 10,000 at first. He told me it was 'an old man's distance,' and he lost his first couple of 10,000s on the track. But I never had any doubts. With his toughness and efficiency, I knew he'd eventually be a great 10,000 runner and marathoner."

ON MEB AFTER COLLEGE"Meb graduated in 1998 and his first couple of years after UCLA weren't his best. He had friends who had gotten jobs and were making good money, and he wasn't sure where to go with his running. But I told him, 'No, don't give up on running. You've got a future in it.' I retired in 2000 after Joe Vigil and I had started discussing what we could do to get American running back where it belonged. Then we teamed up with Running USA and began to do some training at Mammoth Lakes. I got Meb up there for 3 weeks in the spring of 2001, and then he went down to Stanford to set his American record in the 10,000.

"After that, with Meb and Deena as our team leaders, we began putting more and more effort into the Running USA team. You couldn't hope for better leaders than Meb and Deena. It's not just that they've got the talent and the work ethic. It's that they really like the team environment. They're encouraging to everyone else. They help everyone else. You never know when it could be to their disadvantage. They could be developing runners who will beat them. They've just been wonderful."ON MEB AT THE 2004 MARATHON TRIALS"Meb wasn't established in the marathon yet, but we had decided it was time for him to move up. He could have done more on the track, but we thought this was the time to start thinking about Olympic medals, and the marathon had potential. Only the Marathon Trials were in February in 2004, and Meb had a bad winter. He caught a flu that just wouldn't quit, and had a knee injury that wouldn't quit either. About 5 or 6 weeks before the Trials, he was cross-training, but you couldn't say he was marathon training. I was only about a week from pulling the plug.

"But he came around at the right time, and he ran a strong race. It took Alan Culpepper's big kick to beat him at the end. Without that effort in Birmingham, Meb doesn't get a ticket to the Olympic Marathon, where he was definitely in the best shape of his life. That's how he got the silver medal.

"One of the things I've seen in Meb and very, very few other athletes is that he can run well, as he did in Birmingham, when things aren't going particularly well. He can be competitive even when things are bad. I've never seen anyone disciplined and tough enough to do cross-training with the same intensity as Meb. That's one of the things about cross-training: You have to go really hard for it to be effective, and Meb can do that. He's 'saved' a number of races at UCLA and since with his supplementary training. Now he can use that to his advantage. It's become part of his confidence."

ON MEB AT THE NOV. 3 TRIALS IN CENTRAL PARK"He knows it's going to be hard. He knows that he's going to need a good day to make the Team. An average day won't be good enough. I'd love for him to be in his Athens shape, but you can't do that all the time. I hope he's strong enough to make it. And Ryan Hall too. And Abdi who has trained with us. And our new guys Dan Browne and Josh Cox. But they can't all make the Team, and you also have to be rooting for athletes like Brian Sell who have been working so hard for so long.

"The big thing is the quality of the runners coming to this race. It's quite a bit better than what we've seen at recent Trials. It's what Joe and I were looking for when we got the Running USA team started. It's what Basil Honikman and Ryan Lamppa were looking for. The other teams and coaches have done a great job too. We've got American marathoning back where it should be.

ON THE OVERALL BASIS OF MEB'S SUCCESS"He really pays attention to detail. He's totally professional in the way he prepares. He does the running workouts, the ancillary training, the stretching, the sitting in that freezing creek. He pays attention to his diet. He pays attention to his sleep. He doesn't get intimated by other runners, he doesn't get depressed over injuries or when he loses races. He does everything you could possibly ask for. When I suggested that he move to Mammoth Lakes because he would benefit from even more time there, he bought a place and moved."And of course he comes from that phenomenal family. It just blows my mind what they've accomplished against overwhelming odds. The latest one, a younger sister, is going to Stanford. That father of theirs... I don't know where he got it, or how he figured it out, but he did. I often recall a conversation I had with Kip Keino, who wanted me to recruit one of his sons to UCLA. He asked me where Meb came from. I said, Eritrea. Keino said, "Oh, those people are real fighters."

"I think he was referring specifically to the 30-years war for independence from Ethiopia. But I also took it to mean that they're full of courage and toughness. I use the Keino story occasionally to psych Meb up. I say, 'Kip Keino thinks you're tough.' Meb has a lot of pride in living up to that kind of expectation."

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